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Bootstrap UI Libraries for Angular, React and Vue.js

These days, the web is populated with single page applications (SPA) which feel fast and responsive to user interaction. Often, they are powered by JavaScript frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue.js, to mention just a few of the most popular ones.

These libraries are great tools that help keep the JavaScript code needed to build SPAs more organized and maintainable, while using clever techniques to update the DOM without slowing down the web page.

When it comes to styling the components you can create with these libraries, you’re spoilt for choice: you can write your own global CSS document as you normally would on regular websites, you can write inline styles, or use UI frameworks.

This article lists a number of resources for styling your Angular, React, and Vue.js apps the Bootstrap way.

What tools are out there if you want to use Bootstrap to style your Angular app?

ng-bootstrap

ng-bootstrap offers a set of Bootstrap-styled components that makes building Bootstrap apps with Angular a breeze.

More specifically, this resource contains a set of Angular directives based on Bootstrap’s markup and styles. To use it, it’s important that you don’t include any Bootstrap JavaScript files. You only need Angular and Bootstrap CSS files.

ng-bootstrap is a free and open-source project. Feel free to contribute to it or ask for new features on GitHub.

ngx-bootstrap

This is another great, open source modular library of Bootstrap components powered by Angular. You don’t need to use jQuery or any Bootstrap JS code, although the markup and CSS are provided by Bootstrap.

To install the library using npm, type this line into the command line:

[code language=”bash”]
npm install ngx-bootstrap –save
[/code]

Then include the link to Bootstrap’s stylesheet in index.html document:

You can refer to the awesome docs pages on the ngx-bootstrap website for detailed explanations and tutorials.

Bootstrap Interface Elements for React Developers

React was created by the Facebook devs and is one of the trendiest JavaScript libraries for building modern user interfaces.

If you’re looking to give your React app a Bootstrap makeover, here are some of the options available to you out there.

reactstrap

reactstrap is a fast and convenient library that lets you add a Bootstrap 4 look and feel to your React app.

The styling is provided by Bootstrap, while the JavaScript functionality is built into reactstrap components. This means that you don’t need to include any jQuery or Bootstrap JS code. However, you need to include react-popper, since some dynamic Bootstrap components like dropdowns depend on Popper.js to work properly.

If you’re curious, hop over to the docs and learn more about each component and how to integrate reactstrap with the Create React App setup.

React-Bootstrap

React-Bootstrap is an open source project which is still under active development to reach the 1.0.0 release.

Since this library doesn’t support any specific Bootstrap version, you’re free to include any Bootstrap stylesheet you think best suits your project. Generally speaking, including the latest Bootstrap release will ensure that you enjoy the benefits of improvements and bug fixes, therefore it should be your preferred option.

The most straightforward way of including Bootstrap in your React app is via a CDN:

Installing the library this way, will allow you to import individual components from react-bootstrap/lib rather than the entire library. Doing so pulls in only the individual components you need rather than the entire package, which is great for keeping the file size under control.

Alternatively, you can include React-Bootstrap and the React libray as a a bundle using CDNJS and reference the files in your <script> tags: